The present invention is in the field of computer telephony and has particular application to intelligent network call routing.
Telephone call processing and switching systems are, at the time of the present patent application, relatively sophisticated, computerized systems, and development and introduction of new systems continues. Much information on the nature of such hardware and software is available in a number of publications accessible to the present inventor and to those with skill in the art in general. For this reason, much minute detail of known systems is not reproduced here, as to do so would obscure the facts of the invention.
One document which provides considerable information on intelligent networks is xe2x80x9cITU-T Recommendation Q.1219, Intelligent Network User""s Guide for Capability Set 1xe2x80x9d, dated April, 1994.
At the time of filing the present patent application there continues to be remarkable growth in telephone-based information systems, which are intelligent networks. Recently emerging examples are telemarketing operations and technical support operations, among many others, which have grown apace with development and marketing of, for example, sophisticated computer equipment. More traditional are systems for serving customers of such as large insurance organizations. In some cases organizations develop and maintain their own telephony operations with purchased or leased equipment, and in many other cases, companies are outsourcing such operations to firms that specialize in such services.
In telephony art, much commercial development is in the area of what are known as call center services and systems, wherein an organization maintains one or more call centers manned by agents of the organization to provide services to clients of the organization. The call centers are typically based on a telephony switch such as a PBX, having incoming trunks and station-side ports connected to agent stations having a least a telephone. Incoming calls are routed to agents based in any of many possible routing criteria. In relatively more state-of-the-art call centers the switches are computer enhanced by being connected to processors running applications for providing additional services not provided by the switch alone. In the art the processes of such enhancement are known as computer telephony integration (CTI). It is to such systems that embodiments of the present invention are principally (but not exclusively) directed. Embodiments will in general be described relative to call centers.
In an intelligent telephony network such as described herein, incoming calls placed from anywhere in the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) are typically routed by computerized systems known in the art as Service Control Points (SCPs.
Additional processors and software may be provided associated with an SCP for further computer enhancement. For example, when a call arrives at a control point, information about the caller may be collected and processed to help determine the final destination of the call. Then according to programmed routing rules, the call may be switched to a call center and then on to an available agent. In many intelligent networks known to the inventor, digital information pertaining to the caller may be sent ahead to a call center by means of a data link separate from the call carrier, the data link implemented between the SCP and the call center, typically through a CTI processor connected to the telephony switch at the call center. Routing in an intelligent network may be accomplished on several levels according to many different protocols.
A problem with routing within a conventional network is that the final destination for a call is often determined before the call leaves the SCP and further routing is largely automated at decentralized telephony switches within the network. This increases the possibility of errors in routing. Calls may be incorrectly routed in the first instance, and, since call transfer is a process that takes a certain length of time, there may be changes while a call is routed, so when the call arrives at the destination, the situation may have changed to the point that the cal will have too be re-routed. Further, the information at an SCP for use in determining routing of calls is typically information updated periodically, and not real-time data.
Another recent development in telephony art is what is known as Internet Protocol Network Telephony (IPNT), wherein conventional telephone calls are simulated between computers over the data network known as the Internet, using microphones and speakers operating with the computers and a graphical user interface operable on each connected computer. Several commercial vendors offer software for simulating such telephony, and similar systems may operate with data networks other than the Internet, such as through company Intranets. At the time of the present patent application such data networks are considered largely xe2x80x9cdumbxe2x80x9d networks rather than intelligent networks, although some routing is done. Calls are routed in the Internet, for example, by IP addresses, and IP switches and hubs are capable of altering the destination of data packets by controlling IP addresses. In embodiments of the invention that follow, although intelligent telephony networks are used in the main for examples of practicing the invention, the features of the invention are meant to apply as well to IPNT.
What is clearly needed is a better system and method to do call routing whereby determination for routing calls can be shared with decentralized routers in the field without using a separate digital network for transmitting data. In such a system determination of final routing can be made as close as possible to final destination, and information used for routing can be maintained in much closer to real time.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for routing a telephone call in a network is provided, comprising steps of (a) attaining, at a first network destination point, routing data associated with the call other than origination identification or first destination identification; (b) forwarding the routing data in-band with the call to a second network point, (c) accessing the routing data at the second network point; and; (d) using the routing data to select a third network destination for the call. In some embodiments of the method the network is an intelligent telephony network routing telephone calls, and the first destination point is a service control point (SCP). In these embodiments the routing data other than origination identification or first destination identification may be data elicited from a caller. In some embodiments as well, the data is overwritten by a first router at the first network point into one or more data fields conventionally dedicated to information other than the routing data. In such embodiments, in steps (c) and (d) the accessing and using is by a second router at the second network point, and the first router and the second router may negotiate routing path.
In other embodiments the network is a wide area data network, and the telephone calls are simulated calls between two or more computer stations connected to the wide area data network. In the case of call simulation in a wide area network, at the first network destination point a first router writes routing data into one or more data fields in a data packet associated with the call, and forwards the data packet to a second destination point for further routing by a second router using the routing data.
In another aspect of the invention a routing system for telephone calls in a network comprising a first router associated with a first network destination point; and a second router associated with a second network destination point. For a call received at the first network destination point, the first router writes routing data other than call origination identification or first destination identification into one or more data fields conventionally dedicated to other than the routing data, and the second router at the second network destination point uses the routing data from the one or more data fields to further route the call. In systems of the invention the network may be an intelligent telephony network with the first destination point a service control point (SCP) and the second network destination point a computer-telephony integrated (CTI) telephony switch at a call center. In such an embodiment the first router and the second router negotiate based on the data written by the first router into the one or more data fields.
In an alternative aspect of the invention the network may be a wide area data network, and the telephone calls are calls between two or more computer stations connected to the wide area data network rather than between telephones, the computers providing telephone functions. The wide area data network may the Internet, wherein the calls are Internet Protocol Network Telephony calls, or may be an Intranet.
A distinct advantage of the present invention is that no separate data network is necessary in an intelligent telephony network for the purpose of delivering routing data to a second (or further) destination point. Such data arrives with the call or with a data packet associated with the call. Negotiation is still possible, and there is little difficulty in associating the data with an arriving call.